Elon Musk on Tuesday attacked Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, in a series of posts on X, accusing him of trying to “kill NASA,” suggesting he should be fired and calling him “Sean the Dummy.” The reports intensified a long-running feud between Duffy, who is also the acting head of NASA, and Musk, whose company SpaceX is central to the US space program.
This was followed by Musk's tirade against Duffy. Statement by the Minister of Transport On Tuesday, NASA will renew contracts for the agency's Artemis mission to land humans on the moon, which were previously awarded to SpaceX. Duffy said SpaceX was behind schedule. Duffy suggested the contract could go to another billionaire's rocket company, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
Duffy's remarks and Musk's backlash are part of a broader fight over the direction of U.S. space travel and a months-long battle over who will take over NASA's leadership. The clash was central to Musk's dramatic departure from the White House earlier this year, following Trump administration overruled his preferred candidate for NASA, Jared Isaacman, and chose Duffy to act as head of the space agency.
Debate over who should lead NASA has renewed in recent weeks, according to a NASA spokesman. Wall Street Journalwhere Isaacman and Duffy are vying for the position. Trump denied Isaacman the job earlier this year, citing his donations to the Democratic Party. I call him “a blue-blooded Democrat who has never helped a Republican before.” Duffy lobbied for NASA to take over the transportation department, the magazine reported.
Musk, who is no longer part of the administration but is in the process of détente with Trump following their public row, has used his platform to criticize Duffy and his stated proposals to scale back the relationship. NASA to the transport department.
“The person in charge of the American space program cannot have a double-digit IQ,” Musk wrote on his social network X on Tuesday.
“Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” Musk said in another post.
SpaceX The CEO also released a poll that references Duffy's background as a champion high-speed mountaineering lumberjack, asking the question: “Should a man whose greatest claim to fame is climbing trees lead the American space program?”
Musk has long favored Isaacman, his ally and billionaire SpaceX investor, to lead the US space agency. Musk's company is NASA's largest private contractor, and the agency has played a critical role in its growth, providing SpaceX with billions of dollars in funding. SpaceX won Contract worth $2.9 billion in 2021 provide a lunar lander for the Artemis 3 mission.
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The Artemis program, born during Trump's first term, aims to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972. Its initial goal was to land on the moon's south pole in 2024 and establish a human presence by 2028, with the goal of reaching Mars, one of Musk's long-standing ambitions. However, NASA has repeatedly delayed the Artemis launch, and the next step to send four astronauts around the Moon is now not scheduled until 2026.
